University of Technology Sydney

11147 Landscape Architecture Global Studio

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2024 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Design, Architecture and Building: Architecture
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks

There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Description

The subject exposes students to international practices of landscape architecture and their associated sociocultural contexts. This occurs through a period of intensive interaction with a geographic location outside Australia. Exposure to an international environment aims to challenge students' existing ideas and expectations of landscape architecture, questioning what they know to be the discipline's identity, approaches, values, imperatives, applications and actuality. Through this experience students not only develop specific knowledge about new projects, places, people, design processes and ways of living, but also acquire important skills for engaging with the 'unfamiliar' and 'new' in a manner that is generous, culturally responsive and critical. Furthermore, the subject serves as a vehicle for international networking and the creation of a global design perspective. Interaction with the subject's international location takes place through a range of different activities. These could include visits to places, projects, practices and institutions, conversation, discussions, seminars and design charrettes.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Identify and describe the characteristics of Landscape Architectural practices particular to a prescribed international location
2. Constructively engage with alternative cultural experiences in a manner that is both inquisitive and respectful of difference
3. Critically reflect on alternative cultural experiences
4. Use a range of approaches to apprehend and document exemplars: built works, urban environments and regional landscapes

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:

  • Work autonomously and as part of a team to produce high quality landscape architectural projects, policies, designs and publications. (C.1)
  • Distil and fluently communicate landscape architectural theory and practice through appropriate and engaging visual, written and verbal means. (C.2)
  • Represent creative and scholarly work at a professional level. (C.3)
  • Articulate a position on the role of the landscape architect in the future development of the natural and built environment through the development of a body of competent work across diverse project scales. (I.2)
  • Demonstrate skills in managing a variety of landscape architectural projects of differing scopes, locations and contexts from inception to completion. (P.1)
  • Cultivate a landscape literacy that includes the ability to read or analyse landscapes through appropriate methods including site visits, observation, mapping and analysis. (P.2)
  • Engage in critical self-reflection and create defensible and robust ideas within the disciplines culture of critique. (R.3)

Teaching and learning strategies

This subject focuses on a fieldtrip to an international location. This involves an intensive period of immersion in one or more foreign cultures and their respective practices of Landscape Architecture. During this time students will participate in a variety of activities designed to provide exposure to a range of places, projects, people and institutions. In this context learning occurs in a number of different ways, distinct from those encountered in class room settings. Students are expected to interact in a positive and constructive manner with the wide range of experiences on offer: engaging individuals of a host country in conversation, exploring study sites as a group and under their own direction, collecting materials and documenting their exposure to different types of stimulus.

Students will undertake a practical engagement with the tour through the creative outcomes specified in the assessment tasks. All Assessment briefs and pre-tour resources are accessible from UTS Online.

The subject's assessment tasks are designed to help students gain the most from their experience 'in the field' and to ensure they critically inform their subsequent approach to design. These tasks will require students to undertake work in preparation for departure, while 'on the ground' and upon completion of the field trip. Failure to participate fully with these tasks will severely limit a student's understanding of their experiences, diminishing the value of the trip and ultimately jeopardising their ability to pass the subject.

A number of classes/briefing sessions will take place on campus prior to the field trip. These will occur during the closing weeks of the autumn semester.

Because of the intensity of the trip only low-stakes verbal feedback is offered during the study tour. It is the student’s responsibility to record any feedback received during critique sessions and meetings. Formal Written feedback and summative grades are provided through ReView.

Content (topics)

  • International practices of Landscape Architecture
  • Landscape and urban history
  • The 'global' designer and approaches to cross cultural engagement
  • Method for the study of exemplars: built works, urban environments and regional landscapes

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Documentation

Intent:

Students are to compile a comprehensive visual and textual record of their engagement with the study tour's activities.

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

1, 2, 3 and 4

This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):

C.2, C.3, P.2 and R.3

Type: Journal
Groupwork: Individual
Weight: 65%
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Content - material is aligned to the interests of landscape architecture 25 1 C.2
Breadth and depth - content exhibits a comprehensive engagement with projects 25 2 P.2
Reflection - critically reflect on experiences in the field 25 3 R.3
Execution - appropriate representational forms, techniques and conventions 25 4 C.3
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Assessment task 2: Dissemination

Intent:

Students are to produce an engaging and professional executed video account of the study tour's activities.

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

1, 2, 3 and 4

This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):

C.1, C.3, I.2, P.1 and P.2

Type: Presentation
Groupwork: Group, group and individually assessed
Weight: 35%
Criteria:

[no content]

Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Premise - critical and creative response to the project brief 20 3 I.2
Specificity - sensitive and comprehensive engagement with the specificity of the project site 20 1 P.2
Response - translation of design concept into a physically and spatially defined proposal 20 4 P.1
Collaboration - effective cross cultural interactions 20 2 C.1
Presentation - evocative and comprehensive design representations 20 4 C.3
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Minimum requirements

Enrolment in this subject is at the discretion of the subject co-ordinator and dependant on a good record of prior study.

Full attendance of the overseas field trip and on-campus lectures is a mandatory requirement of the subject. Students are to arrive on time at specified locations ready to participate in the scheluded activities. A record of attendance will be kept by the subject co-ordinator. The subject co-ordinator must be notified by email, in good time, of absences resulting from illness or for reasons beyond a student's control.

Under the guidance of the subject's co-ordinator students are responsible for the organisation and cost of travel. They must ensure that their travel plans correspond with the field trip's start and end dates.

In order to participate in this subject students are required to complete the Student Code of Conduct for Fieldwork form and abide by its stipulations for the length of the field trip. During their time overseas students are expected to act as ambassadors for UTS and the discpline.

Students will not pass this course based solely on their participation in the field trip; assessment tasks must be completed to an appropriate standard.

Required texts

See supplementary reading list handout.